1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly, to a printing apparatus and method capable of processing various kinds of information relating, for example, to the amount of use of sheets of a printing medium, a recording material or the like, or to life of a recording head, and notifying the user of the obtained information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, various kinds of printing apparatuses have been practially used as output apparatuses for copiers, facsimile apparatuses, word processors and the like, and printers, connected to information processing systems, such as personal computers or the like, for outputting results. There are also various kinds of printing methods. For example, a method of transferring ink onto a recording medium using an ink sheet coated with the ink, an ink-jet method of forming an ink image on a recording medium by discharging ink droplets from discharging ports of a recording head, and an electrophotographic method of transferring a toner image formed on a photosensitive member onto a recording medium are widely known.
Particularly, the ink-jet method has been widely adopted recently because the configuration of a printing apparatus using that method is simple and a color print can be easily obtained.
Printing apparatuses have been known in which invariable fixed data, such as an identification number and the like, which are already determined in the production process of each printer are stored in a storage means, such as a ROM (read-only memory) or the like, and stored information is read from the storage means and is output to an external apparatus whenever necessary. In addition, in some apparatuses, when an abnormality, such as a jam of a recording medium, or consumption of all the ink or the ink sheet, occurs, the fact is displayed on a display unit provided in the printing apparatus.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-109926/1983 discloses a configuration of identifying the state of abnormality which has occurred in the main body of a printing apparatus and transmitting the identified state to an external apparatus or the like.
In the printing apparatus which stores fixed data, the state of the apparatus when it has been shipped can be confirmed by reading the fixed data. In the printing apparatus which catches the occurences of abnormalities, the nature of the abnormality can be confirmed. However, none of the above-described printing apparatuses can confirm the state of the apparatus at an arbitrary time in the past. That is, the above-described conventional apparatuses can permit the user to confirm only the present state of the apparatus, but cannot store and output a record of all such occurrences in the machine past history, either singly or collectively.
Accordingly, the user cannot analyze how much of the printing apparatus""s useful life has been used, up to the present, or to which extent the apparatus will be able to be used in future. That is, although it has become important for the user to control the state of a printing apparatus, as the user wishes to utilize the printing apparatus to the limit of durability, as maintenance-free as possible (in accordance with the recent tendency to use small personal printing apparatuses), a fully suitable method for that purpose has not yet been established.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus capable of appropriately notifying the user of the state of use by processing all of past information relating to the use of the apparatus.
According to one aspect, the present invention which achieves the above-described object relates to a printing apparatus for printing an image on a printing medium using a print head, including an information collection unit for collecting information of use that changes while the printing apparatus being is used, a use-information storage unit for storing the information of use collected by the information collection unit, a reference-information storage unit for storing reference information to be compared with the information of use, and a notification unit for providing notification of the information of use and the reference information based on a user""s instruction.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves the above-described object relates to a printing apparatus for printing an image on a printing medium using a print head, including an information collection unit for collecting information of use that changes while the printing apparatus is being used, a use-information storage unit for storing the information of use collected by the information collection unit, a timer unit for counting an elapsed time period, a calculation unit for calculating an amount of change per predetermined elapsed time period of the information of use stored in the use-information storage unit, and notification unit for providing notification of a result of calculation of the calculation unit.
According to still another aspect, the present invention which achieves the above-described object relates to a method for controlling print information in a printing apparatus for printing an image on a printing medium using a print head, including the steps of collecting information of that changes while the printing apparatus is being used, storing the information of use collected in the information collecting step, providing a reference-information storing unit for storing reference information to be compared with the information of use, and providing notification of the information of use and the reference information based on a user""s instruction.
According to yet another aspect, the present invention which achieves the above-described object relates to a method for controlling information in a printing apparatus for printing an image on a printing medium using a print head, including the steps of collecting information of user that changes while the printing apparatus is being used, storing the information of use collected in the information collecting step, counting an elapsed time period, calculating an amount of change per predetermined elapsed time period of the information of use, and providing notification of a result of calculation obtained in the calculating step.
According to the present invention, by collecting information of use that changes while a printing apparatus is being used, such as the amount of used sheets of a printing medium, and the like, and providing notification of a result of comparison between the information of use and reference information, and a notification of the amount of change per unit elapsed time period of the information of use, and appropriate information of use of the printing apparatus based on past accumulated data is provided to the user.
The foregoing and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.